In the years
between 1938 to 1941 nearly 20,000 European Jewish refugees fled to Shanghai,
China where most would spend almost a decade in exile. The emigration
to Shanghai was, for most refugees, a "last resort" to find
a safe have at a time when borders around Europe were closed to the desperate
Jews of Europe.

The little-known
story of the Jewish refugees in Shanghai is presented through the recollections
of four former refugees -Fred Fields, Ernest Heppner, Illo Heppner, and
Siegmar Simon- and a thorough collage of evocative materials: personal
and published writings by refugees, relief reports, secret documents,
rare home movies, photographs, newsreels, and propaganda films.

This remarkable
archival material reveals a lost world when Shanghai was the Far East's
most illustrious city. Extraordinary images of refugees and uncommon views
of Chinese life create a compelling vantage point for understanding this
story of survival.

CRITICAL
ACCLAIM

"...The film wisely never veers from its tight focus on intriguing
stories of escape and survival"
- The Asian Wall Street Journal, April 9, 1999